Pros:

Cons:

The first Delta Force game stood on the cutting edge of game design, helping pioneer the tactical-shooter genre back in 1998. However, while other series like SWAT and Rainbow Six have pushed the genre forward, the Delta Force games have morphed into more run-and-gun shooters with military themes.

Delta Force Xtreme won't do anything to change that perception. Instead of taking a step forward, it looks to the past, repackaging parts of the original 1998 game with updated graphics. What was innovative then seems woefully dated now, so Delta Force Xtreme's solo missions can feel almost silly in 2005. Thankfully, the game's frantic multiplayer action helps to balance things out.

Much about Delta Force Xtreme's single-player game stinks. The A.I. is nonexistent, with enemies just standing around or charging right at you blindly. If they kill you, it's likely because the game has lulled you into laziness. Friendly soldiers, who have no personalities and whom you never interact with, tend to shoot poorly and overlook the blatantly obvious -- like two drug traffickers standing right next to them. But that's OK, because those drug traffickers often won't budge until you're right in their faces.

He's not long for this world.

The game's physics can be bizarre, with men able to clamber up and down towering slopes with the greatest of ease and a few rifle rounds toppling sturdy trees. Scripted events can fail to trigger, causing missions to stall. There's no sense of nuanced pacing or mounting tension, no feeling that you're a real soldier facing real danger on a real mission. There's no storytelling to speak of, just simple, bland text briefings before each mission. These aren't even necessary since every mission boils down to the same repetitive "Rush in and blast hordes of hapless bad guys from afar."

The single-player isn't a complete failure. The presentation is decent enough, with weighty-sounding gunfire and explosions and smooth rendering of big expanses of terrain. Some of the explosions look really cool, with helicopters bursting into fireballs and scattering shrapnel -- and crewmen -- across the ground.